Riley looks ahead to facing his former club
Shrewsbury Town Defender Joe Riley believes Town are capable of causing an upset when they take on his former club Bolton Wanderers tomorrow.Bolton are on a fantastic run of late, scoring four times in each of their last three away games, but Riley is confident that Town can cause a shock.
Joe has been an almost ever present – when fit – under Paul Hurst and he admits that he is enjoying his time with Town.
“I’ve enjoyed it a lot”, Joe admitted.
“When you’re playing full-back he gives you a licence to go forward and I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve enjoyed winning and I felt like I had hit a good bit of form.”
“I’ve obviously had a little bit of a set back with the hamstring injury, but I’m easing my way back into it now. I’ve got two 90 minutes under my belt, so hopefully I’m fit and raring to go again.”
Joe admitted that recent results has been disappointing, but is looking for one big push between now and the end of the season.
“We would have taken this position when the Gaffer came in”, Riley said.
“It’s been a disappointing three games, but we knew it was going to go to the wire, so we’ve got to stand up and be counted.
“Confidence is still there, but it obviously does take a bit of a hit. We are only human, but I’m sure come Saturday that we are going to be confident and on the front foot.”
Riley was just seven years old when he joined Bolton’s Academy and he admitted that a win on Saturday would be very pleasing.
“It would be sweet to get a win on Saturday, but it’s not about me personally”, said Joe.
“Of course it would be nice to pick three points up against them and I think it would be a massive confidence boost if we did do that, but it is eight cup finals at the end of the day.
“They are a big team and we’ve got to rise to that test, but we fancy our chances. We’ve got some big lads in there as well and we’ve got to do.
“We are at home so we’ve got to get on the front foot. They’ve obviously had a midweek game, so I don’t know what they are going to be like tiredness wise, but we’ve worked hard this week and we are raring to go.
“The atmosphere has been really good here recently, the fans have really backed us up and we’ve got to give them something to shout for definitely.”